• Kimmie English may be the star of an NCAA tournament-bound Missouri team now, but back in grade school he had a terrible stutter that made him a target of bullies and kept him from even speaking for days at a time. "I got teased in school," English said. "Can you imagine a boy in the second grade stuttering and his name's Kim?"

• Bob Nash was a member of the "Fabulous Five" teams at Hawaii that compiled a 47-8 record during 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons, but his coaching tenure at the school has been less successful. Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan fired Nash on Monday after a 10-20 season, his third straight in which the team finished well under .500. "I hope it's the toughest day of my career, and that I don't have to deal with something like this again, because Bob's such a good man," Donovan said.

• Your four regional hosts for next season's Coaches vs. Cancer Classic will be Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and Illinois, a quartet that looks excellent now but may be diminished if some underclassmen choose to come out early. Among the other entrants are Rhode Island, College of Charleston, Illinois-Chicago, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Seattle, Toledo and UC Irvine.